"Reading and writing, like everything else, improve with practice. And, of course, if there are no young readers and writers, there will shortly be no older ones. Literacy will be dead, and democracy - which many believe goes hand in hand with it - will be dead as well."--Margaret Atwood

"Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go."--E. L. Doctorow

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm a character being written, or if I'm writing myself."--Marilyn Manson

"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money."--Moliere

The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure pure reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!Bill Watterson

"Writing nonfiction is more like sculpture, a matter of shaping the research into the finished thing. Novels are like paintings, specifically watercolors. Every stroke you put down you have to go with. Of course you can rewrite, but the original strokes are still there in the texture of the thing."--Joan Didion